A Secret Memory
by SunnyLupin
Summary: A side of Salazar Slytherin that he hid from the world, except to the one woman that meant the world to him – magical history will never know the truth.


**Disclaimer: **All characters belong to the wonderful JK Rowling…who should've let Neville kill Bellatrix Lestrange because it was Karma to have that happen. I own nothing. Nothing, I tells ya, nothing!

**Summary:** A side of Salazar Slytherin that he hid from the world, except to the one woman that meant the world to him – magical history will never know the truth.

Rowena Ravenclaw is well over a hundred years old and the years have finally caught up. Only Salazar refuses to let go the woman he calls his mentor, friend, and mother in every name but blood. One of my thoughts of where exactly did Slytherin learn all of his values. It's also my thought that Rowena would be older than him enough so that she raises him when he was young.

Yes I know, the dialogue might not be old English all the way through, but you gotta at least give me props for trying my hardest.

I will hopefully be writing more stories about the Founders soon. Hopefully…Maybe…Fingers-crossed…Girl Scout's Honor…yeah that's it. Huh.

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Salazar Slytherin was known to his friends as one of the greatest wizards of his time; champion duelist, brilliant strategist, and a gifted Potions Master. He was sly, cunning, and ambitious to the bone. But no one has seen a side of Slytherin that showcases his more rare and gentle nature. In fact, no one who knew him ever thought he _had_ a gentle nature…until now

**RAVENCLAW TOWER, MASTER BEDROOM:**

Salazar Slytherin tilted his calculating gaze upon the fragile expression on the face that belonged to a woman he had been calling Mother for over seventy years now. An old woman, who fed him, clothed him, educated him, and even disciplined him. Now he was being called to her bedside for the last time and he did not want to face reality and acknowledge the gruesome truth.

Lady Ravenclaw was dying.

No one wanted to speak it out loud for it will make it even more real.

Rowena was well loved by all, but most of all by the young snake that now looked down upon her. She still held a aura of beauty around her person that made Slytherin turn his lips up in amusement.

_Still ever the beauty, even when she is nearing…_Sal choked on the thought and reigned in back before he could finish it. He will not acknowledge the truth now.

Her once dark rich black hair was now shockingly white, without a single trace of their original color. Her eyes were fading from their vibrant green color to a faded pale moss. Wrinkles adorned the old woman's face and hands, showing that this woman really did live to the full extent of her abilities.

A smile crept up her face as soon as she saw him by her bedside.

Her little snake could always bring a smile to her face, no matter how she felt.

"Your presence is a delight to my old heart, sweet child. Tell me, why hath thou a face portraying such pain and misery?" Her voice was soft and raspy from age, but he heard her anyways.

"You are breathing so shallow. It well may be your last ones. Do not feel as if you have to put on pretenses, Mother Rowena." Salazar bit out, trying to hold back his tears. He never cried in front of others. He never made a sound whenever he was alone either-- he'd just let the tears fall silently. The only times he will allow himself to cry like an infant was if he was alone with her and only her.

"Such a surplus of fear and anxiety you carry in your bones." Ravenclaw breathed out, her words were followed by an amused chuckle.

"Your own feelings of this situation are so far inadequate." Slytherin argued back, though did not raise his voice.

"I am old. I am dying. I accept my fate as it is, little snake." She closed her eyes at the last sentence and breathed as deeply as she could. She felt the mattress dip and knew that Sal had lain down over the covers. Inwardly she smiled as she remembered the thundering storms that scared the poor eight year old Slytherin into her own bed.

"I am not ready to let to go. I am not ready to be alone. I do not want you to leave me. It is unfair. You were the strong one. You were going to outlive us all. My heart breaks every time you say that. Do not leave me, mother. You cannot leave me right now. I want you here. I still need you here." Sal whispered harshly, not caring anymore that his tears are flowing freely down his face and onto the sheets.

Rowena raised an amused eyebrow and heaved out a dry chuckle.

"My great Serpentine Prince, hear me now. I have raised you since you were a mere child of five summers. Looking at what you have accomplished, no mother could be prouder than I to call you my son. I gave you strength to fight in life! I have showed you ambition to survive in life!" She praised and looked down at the boy.

Ravenclaw smiled at her greatest accomplishment in the wizened wizard. He no longer was a boy but a wizard in his eighties (middle age for a wizard if you ask me). Then she raised her voice as best as she could.

"You have raged at my harshness at times, but I do that out of my love for you. Never once have I taught you the weakness you have shown me tonight. I will not allow it in my presence!"

Salazar sighed in defeat, lifted his head off the bed, and locked eyes with Mama Rowena's cold steel eyes.

"I have disappointed you have I, Mother?" His voice trembled slightly, as it always did on the rare occasions when she yelled at him. Rowena's eyes softened at her boy, and then tried to express more clearly what she was trying to get across.

"Thou art my greatest and noblest treasure that I behold. Never let it be said that I was disappointed. I simply want you to remember your strength and remember where you came from, little snake."

"Yes, Mother." He replied obediently.

"Never allow yourself to be teased or ridiculed because of your magnificent heritage."

"Yes, Mother."

"You are a pureblood, and purebloods hold their heads up high and let not an insult affect them."

"Yes, Mother. I know all of this for you have taught me and raised me well."

"And best of all, you are a Slytherin. You may have been the smallest, but you are the greatest of the Hogwarts four. Remain that way always, Serpentine. You are my sly and cunning precious little snake." Ravenclaw stated firmly, leaving no room for argument. Salazar looked into his 'mother's' eyes and understood her last dying wish. With grim determination, he resolved to not let her down.

"I will remember that, Mother." He whispered, and laid his head back down to rest with the one woman who meant everything to him in this world.

The next full moon came to Hogwarts, bright and eerily beautiful. Sadly, it was the day that Rowena Ravenclaw was laid to rest reaching the age of around over a hundred. Salazar Slytherin and his best friend, Godric Gryffindor, attended the funeral service along with many of Ravenclaw's students. They were all openly weeping for their dead teacher. Even Gyffindor could not hold back and let s few stray tears fall down. But Salazar's face was a black emotionless mask whose only indication that this death greatly affected him was the violent storm raging in his eyes.

_Why was she taken from me? It's not fair at all. I want her back. No one knew the real me except her. No one could have ever accepted the real me but her and her alone. No one wanted me but her! No one else care about me but her! Mother please, come back to me! _He raged in his mind. For days after his last visit with Rowena, Sal threw a massive tantrum in his dungeon rooms, smashing anything he can lay his hands on. Students went out of their way to avoid him after that, giving him much needed space to grieve alone.

The attending Ravenclaw students knew, of course, that this was how Slytherin handles his emotions, having been close to the quiet and reserved man, due to his close relationship with Lady Ravenclaw. They just never figured out how close those two really were.

"I promise you, Mother. I love you." The dark haired man whispered. He closed his eyes and let a few hot tears streak down his pale face.

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A/N: okay, so if I got this right, Rowena and Salazar should be at least thirty years apart, with him being younger one of course. Still haven't decided their exact age difference, that's why the ages are so vague. That info about him being the smallest meant that I placed Sal as the youngest of the Founders'. Remember this is my story and it's not exactly canon with JK Rowling's canon. I really like the idea of Slytherin being reincarnated as Harry Potter, but I have yet to find a good one to my liking. It's a real shame too. It's a good story concept.

Oh, well. Tell me what you think….um…spin the wheel and win a price? Huh. It worked on The Price is Right.


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